MIDLIFE CAREER CHANGE
A seasoned and highly successful commercial real estate agent came to me because he had lost all excitement in his career. He was great at what he did and regularly generated repeat business from real estate investors who loved working with him. He was 37 and in a career slump–there was just nothing new or stimulating for him in his current business. He was married and had two school-age children and was concerned that by changing careers he would sacrifice significant income. Plus, he did not know what he wanted to do next.
In our first meeting, we identified three careers that he was interested in and mapped out what was most important to him in a career that he would love. Over the next few months, I coached him to research the three careers and to identify and talk to various people in these businesses. The one career that stood out to him was commercial property development, but he had serious doubts: He believed he did not have the aptitude or skill set. He believed that because of the state of the market, it was a bad time to get into that business and he risked taking a huge financial hit. Had we not been working together, he would have dropped the idea. I had him explore the market further. The more we discussed it, the more it became apparent to him that he wanted to become a developer as long as he knew he had a good chance of success. I had him put together a business plan to define his goals, create a business strategy and see if he could make it work on paper. Meanwhile, I coached him to put his toe in the water by doing a couple of development deals on the side. After a few months of coaching, he decided to leave his firm and open his own development business. Over the next couple of months, we worked on strategies for exiting his old business and forming his new business. He subsequently opened the doors to his development company and with great excitement, launched his new career. It’s never too late!
